Harsh lessons: Wildcat women torched by first-place Albany

DURHAM — Fitting that this matinee was billed as Education Day. Because that’s exactly what the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team received on Wednesday.

First-place Albany did the instructing in front of 1,537 mostly young fans at Lundholm Gym, scoring 26 of the game’s first 28 points to turn the game into one long teaching moment, ultimately winning, 78-52, to improve to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in America East play.

“It’s disappointing,” said UNH coach Maureen Magarity. “You always want the opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the conference on your home court and now we don’t have that anymore.”

The one-sided loss extended the Wildcats’ losing streak to seven games, a disjointed stretch that has seen them take the floor with some patchwork lineups due to injuries, but also play a strong game at North Carolina and nearly win on the road at Binghamton in their conference opener on Saturday.

“We made some adjustments but it was just too little, too late,” said forward Corinne Coia. “In the grand scheme of everything, that first quarter killed us.”

Forwards Coia (13) and Carlie Pogue (12) led the Wildcats in points, but they struggled for most of the day to get them, shooting 9-of-25 combined. The team did match a season-high seven 3-pointers — three by redshirt freshman Emily Peters — but most of those tries came after the fact; they also turned the ball over 15 times.

Shereesha Richards, the Great Danes’ 2,000-point scorer who entered play ranked fifth in Division I in scoring at 23.9 points a game, scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Former Maine schoolgirl standout Tiana-Jo Carter added 14 points, and guard Erin Coughlin had 12 on four first-half 3-pointers. The Danes shot 55 percent overall.

The final result was similar to their first two conference games — wins against UMBC (77-42) and Vermont (72-43). The Danes were picked to win a fifth straight America East title in the preseason and it was easy to see why Wednesday.

With guard Kristen Anderson still out and guard Aliza Simpson not starting as she recovers from an injury of her own, the Wildcats (6-9, 0-2 in AE) opted for a big lineup, with the 6-foot-4 Coia, 6-foot-2 Pogue and 6-foot-3 Ashley Storey.

A nearly full gym — mostly students from the Oyster River and Somersworth school districts — saw that unit get torched. The Danes scored on their first three trips, the latter two on wide-open 3-pointers by Coughlin, and raced out 8-0.

Using their quickness inside to create good looks in the paint, the Danes cemented their control in the next few minutes. An easy inside basket made it 19-2 with 4:03 left in the quarter and got Magarity signaling for a second time-out.

“Their pressure bothered us a lot, we turned it over and we couldn’t get stops inside,” said UNH guard Elizabeth Belanger. “They scored points in the paint. Then they hit those big threes and it was a big hole to dig ourselves out of.”

“I know that they’re injured right now,” said Albany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. “I think our press really worked because one of their ball-handlers was out. It forced Belanger to dribble up the floor and that’s not what she wants.”

It was 26-2 before Pogue snapped the 26-point run with a jumper and 32-7 at the end of the Wildcats’ worst quarter of the season.

“Our game plan was to pack in the paint,” said Coia. “Then they started hitting threes and we had to play them, and I don’t think we were prepared for that. I mean … they’re a good team.”

The spurts by the Wildcats were short and limited. Back-to-back threes by Simpson and Peters midway through the second quarter made it 42-16 and had Abrahamson-Henderson calling for time-out.

But it was 47-22 at the half and the lead never fell below 25 after the break.

“It’s tough,” said Magarity. “We’re just not scoring right now and against a team like this, you have to score early or they’ll bury you with their athleticism.

NOTES: The 78 points are the most the Wildcats have given up all season. … Belanger finished with just 2 points on 1-of-8 shooting, and remains 15 points shy of cracking the program’s all-time top-10 list in scoring. … The Wildcats will try to snap their losing streak on Saturday (2 p.m.) when they play at Stony Brook (10-5, 2-0 AE).

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